


No, Stay!

by HN94



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Bullying, Gen, Mental Illness, Panic Attack, Self Harm, mental health
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 14:49:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13789998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HN94/pseuds/HN94
Summary: Inspired by Tumblr user @ashleybenlove reblogging my post saying "An AU where TJ helps calm Jonah down would make a great fanfic, I bet. "Thanks for the inspiration!





	No, Stay!

TJ had been looking everywhere for Cyrus. He made one last ditch effort to find him, but came up empty. He didn’t really feel wanted. Buffy’s words had stuck with him throughout the rest of the day “As far as I’m concerned, you don’t even exist.” 

He knew he had hurt her. He knew he hadn’t been nice, but he didn’t know it was that bad. He didn’t know she felt the same way about him as he felt about himself. It had taken all his willpower not to break down crying right there, and even more willpower not to go in search of something sharp. 

Cyrus was the only one he even remotely trusted with something like this. But he knew Buffy was Cyrus’ best friend and would probably end up siding with her. Still, he wanted to at least say thank you for the invite. The party hadn’t exactly been fun, but it had been illuminating. For starters, Buffy was hurting just as much as him. He thought she was perfect before her mom came home. Well, shows how wrong he was. 

He walked down the stairs, finally deciding that his mental health was more important the finding Cyrus. He heard someone screaming “HELP ME!” He couldn’t place the voice right away, but he ran to their side anyway. TJ knew a panic attack when he heard one. 

He was shocked to find it was Jonah Beck. Like everyone else at school, TJ saw Jonah as a human sunbeam. Always happy, never letting anything bother him. He’d never been mean to Jonah, per se, but seeing people who weren’t hurting wasn’t fun for him and he had said a few things he regretted. He regretted them even more as he watched Jonah in pure agony. 

“Are you alright, man?” He knew the answer was no even before Jonah said something. “Hold on, let me get someone.” He started to walk away when Jonah said, or more like cried, “No, stay!” TJ nodded and sat next to Jonah.

TJ knew exactly how Jonah felt, which also meant he knew that telling Jonah that wouldn’t help anything. “Look at me,” TJ said sternly. Jonah complied. “Now, watch me.” TJ exaggeratedly took a deep breath and let it out. He did it 10 more times as Jonah’s breathing started to slow. “Good,” TJ said soothingly. 

“Tell me three things you hear.” TJ continued. Jonah took a shaky breath. “I hear v-voices, I hear the cars, and I hear…I hear the water in the fountain behind us.” With each word, Jonah’s voice became more and more confident. 

He looked at TJ of his own accord this time. “What just happened?” Jonah asked quizzically. He had no idea what was happening and was scared out of his mind. TJ took Jonah’s hand placing his palm upon his own and took his pulse. He heart rate had slowed considerably. TJ sighed, “you just had a panic attack. It’s caused by…well, by a lot of things. You felt like you were dying, right?” Jonah just nodded. “

Don’t tell anyone, but, I get them too. A lot, actually. You’ll be okay. It may happen again, but now you know what to do.” Jonah cut him off. “It may happen again??” TJ gave a sad smile. “Yeah, for me, it’s really easy for them to come on. It doesn’t take much. But, now you know what to do...give me your phone.” Jonah complied.

TJ entered his phone number and handed the phone back to Jonah. “That’s my number. If you ever feel like that again, call me. We can support each other. I know I’d never tell my friends, and I assume you’re the same way.” Jonah nodded. “It will be our secret. Two boys with mental health problems helping each other.” TJ smirked. 

He got up and started to walk back into the party. Maybe he could find Buffy and apologize, for real this time. “I’m sorry if I ever did anything hurtful in the past. I’m just really insecure when anyone has a perfect life, or, seemingly does.” Jonah was already back to his old self. He smiled. “It’s okay. You were here when it counted. And, thank you. I probably couldn’t have gotten through that otherwise.”

“You could have, it would have been a lot worse, but you could have. But, I’m glad I could help. See you around.” TJ said as he walked back up the stairs.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys liked it. It's pretty dark, but I think I did okay. Thanks to The Fosters for just having an episode on panic attacks.


End file.
